Weeks: Kane ready to perform at her 12th U.S. Open

At 48-years-old, Lorie Kane has been around enough U.S. Opens that when Thursday rolls around and play gets underway at Sebonack GC in Southampton, N.Y., she won't be surprised.

This will be Kane's 12th appearance in the American championship and she knows the course will be difficult and patience will be tested. But as always with the eternal optimist, she can't wait to get started.

"My game is good, I'm healthy and I've been working hard," she summed up on Wednesday before heading to the course for one last practice spin. "If I can just clean up a mistake here and there, I'll be happy."

After a slow start to the year, Kane has made the cut in four of her last six starts. She's collected just over $17,000 and is now just shy of $7 million in career earnings.

Despite giving away some years to the current crop of youngsters on Tour, Kane is still putting in some impressive stats, being inside the top 60 in both driving accuracy and greens in regulation. She's hoping that coupled with her U.S. Open experience, it will give her a leg up this week on what appears to be an extremely challenging golf course.

"The U.S. Open is not a traditional golf tournament," she stated. "There's really no par on these holes. You just try to get the ball in the hole in the fewest numbers.

"There are some short holes, some long holes and then some really long holes," she added, chuckling to herself after the comment.

While she knows that this week is all about patience on a brutal golf course, Kane said that she's also trying to remind herself she can enjoy this experience.

"I'm looking forward to this, to going out there and having as much fun as I can," she stated. "This is game and we have to keep reminding ourselves about that."

As the senior Canadian at the Open, Kane has been keeping an eye out for the other women with the Maple Leaf on their golf bags, but hasn't yet come across them, not unusual during the busy practice round days.

She is, however, impressed by all those who are in the field including Brooke Henderson, the 15-year-old phenom who wasn't born when Kane played her first U.S. Open.

"I met her last year at the CN Women's Open and she's very impressive," Kane said. "We have a lot of great young players in Canada right now. It's exciting."

Kane is still an impressive golfer and she's hoping to do some exciting things of her own this week. No matter what the outcome, you can be sure she'll have fun.

(Photo: The Canadian Press)

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